When did August stop feeling like summer and start feeling like stress and schedules?
It’s the second week of August and I already feel like summer is over.
Or does it have to be?
Does fun have to operate on a calendar?
Time is flying by so quickly that my husband and I have been scrambling to do some fun family things before the end of the month.
We didn’t take a family summer vacation, so fun kind of fell through the cracks.
We’ve gotten stuck in our daily routine instead of finding the joy and fun in each day.
What Fun Reveals About Your Well-Being
A few days ago, while debating whether to get out of bed or not, I picked up my phone and saw this quote:
Go often to the places that heal and inspire you.
Have I been doing that this summer?
The answer was unequivocally no.
For me, that place is the beach. I love to walk along the water’s edge. It is my church. It’s where I feel I can breathe deeply, open my mind, let go of my stress and worries, and dream.
Life is filled with fun and endless possibilities on the beach.
At least that’s how it is for me. And you know something? I haven’t gone all year long. And what makes that even more offensive is I live 10 minutes away….I actually timed it.
Go often to the places that heal and inspire you.
So I put on my walking clothes and a sun hat and went on a beach walk.
I’m proud to say I’ve been several times since then and plan for several more before the weather turns.
But it made me sad and a bit frustrated with myself that I had let it go completely unnoticed.
Isn’t fun supposed to be, well…fun? Something I look forward to?
It’s also essential to a healthy mind, body, and soul. We absolutely must allow ourselves (here’s that permission word again) to step away from work and the stress in our lives and allow fun in … and dare I say, make it a priority?
What the Research Tells Us
Even brief joy boosts emotional well‑being across populations
A large collaborative study from UCSF and UC Berkeley’s Big Joy Project—including nearly 18,000 participants from 2022–2024—found that just 5 to 10 minutes a day of micro-acts of joy (such as fun, gratitude, or awe) led to significant improvements in happiness, reduced stress, and a greater sense of emotional control—especially for people facing economic or social challenges.
Fun and leisure are directly tied to both mental and physical health.
And in a study of over 2,500 adults, those who regularly engaged in multiple enjoyable leisure activities—such as hobbies, social outings, or creative pastimes—demonstrated significantly lower stress levels, better mood, greater life satisfaction, and favorable physiological markers (like lower blood pressure and inflammation) compared to those who did fewer or none of these activities. The researchers concluded that fun and leisure are directly tied to both mental and physical health. Pressman et al (2009)
Want More Joy? Start Here.
So how do we make fun a priority? (Isn’t it crazy that I even typed it?).
And yet I know I’m not the only one putting fun on the back burner.
First and most important: We must Honor Ourselves.
That means, we believe we deserve the downtime. We deserve to laugh, to breathe deeply, to enjoy time with those we love.
And that starts with Loving Who You Are.
If you are struggling with finding time for fun, boundaries are going to become your friend.
Your Mini Challenge: Create Space for Joy
Grab a piece of paper or your notes app and spend 10 minutes today doing this:
- Set your bedtime and wake-up time (weekdays)
- Block off the first 30–60 minutes in the morning just for you
(think: movement, journaling, meditation, or quiet coffee time) - Decide your work start and end time
- Honor your workday ending. This is where joy begins.
🎉 Your Evening Hours = Your Life
You should have at least 3 hours after your workday ends for:
- 🥘 Dinner
- 🧒 Family or kids
- 🧺 House tasks
- 🎨 Hobbies
- 🛋️ Downtime
- 💃🏽 FUN
Now ask yourself honestly…
- ⏰ How are you using that time?
- 🤳 Are you sitting in front of the TV or scrolling?
- 👯♀️ Are you connecting with friends or nature?
Just this one planning step can begin to shift your experience of life.
Boundaries aren’t restrictions—they are gifts. They make room for you.
Let this become your new mantra.
Go often to the places that heal and inspire you.
Take the time for you. I know it is so easy to put yourself last. And fun is hard to make a priority when there are so many things that are more serious or important.
But your well-being depends on you to have fun.
So make time for it. 30 minutes or an hour a few days a week is not a lot of time. You spend 5 to 10 times that on social media or TV. Just reallocate it to you.
This one will not come with regrets. Only Joy.
What one thing can you do tonight that’s fun?
Go do it.
You can Emerge Positive!
Positively,
deanne
